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Girl's Killing Brings More Awareness To Child Abuse

A year after 11-year-old Sarah Foxwell was slain in Salisbury, Maryland has worked to create stricter punishment for child predators.

Foxwell's body was found after days of searching last Christmas. Her aunt's former boyfriend and registered sex offender Thomas Leggs Jr. was arrested soon after and charged in her death.

"One of the things that we've learned -- and it's become very public -- is that the child predators and adults who abuse kids and, in this case murdered Sarah Foxwell, are people who are known to the child and the parent," said Adam Rosenberg, who runs the Baltimore Child Abuse Center, a group of people who advocate for abused or neglected children.

He said in the past year, the General Assembly passed legislation creating stricter punishments for people convicted of abusing children in any way. He said the next step is to emulate other states' laws to protect children.

"Vermont passed a terrific act called Act One last year, which really started to lay the foundation so that there's holistic education throughout the entire state supported by the state so that they can know what they need to teach kids about prevention, keeping kids safe from abuse," Rosenberg said.

He said what society can do to lower the child abuse rate is to first recognize how big of a problem it is. He said more than 2,500 children a year are killed in the U.S. as a result of child abuse.

"I think the other thing we need to be doing as a society is taking some ownership of this, keeping our own kids safe, learning how we can protect our kids and what the basic signs of a person who may be a child abuser are, and, frankly, what are the signs of a child who has been abused," Rosenberg said.

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